Tag Archives: improve

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff….)

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im·prove -[imˈpro͞ov] –VERB – make or become better:

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There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. Ernest Hemingway

What you do today can improve all your tomorrows. Ralph Marston –

We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve. Bill Gates –

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. Winston Churchill –

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. Benjamin Franklin –

The power to question is the basis of all human progress. Indira Gandhi –

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw –

Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more. Oscar Wilde –

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

Progress and/or Improvement – something we all need to do; both incrementally and when possible, in large steps.

I think Tony Robbins said that most people tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in one year but underestimate what they can do over 10 years, and I paraphrase.

In other words, we truly have the ability to improve and make our situations, our selves better. Speaking for myself, I used to look more for the ‘big step’ where I could make one big change and improve myself a lot at once.

As I became ‘wiser’ I now understand that the small incremental changes; the little habits and things that we do each and every day have huge repercussions in our lives – changing something little each day can change your destiny. As corny as that may sound, it is true.

I also think that we need to think of progress with only ‘us’ in mind. In other words, progress and improvement isn’t about me and other people, it is about me today and me yesterday. If I can improve something about me versus the old me, that’s great. We should not be comparing ourselves to others or , “we will become vain and bitter.” (Desiderata by Max Ehrmann)

Personally, I often think, and I mean a few times a day at least, ‘how can I make this better’. I’ve learned that it isn’t always good to ask that in every situation or relationship. Sometimes it is best to just live in the moment, enjoy what we have, be grateful, and accept the present. I’ve also found that there are times that, if you ask the question in a poor state of mind or in a negative way, it can be counterproductive.

Change can be scary. Progress and improvement is about change. We’re pushing ourselves, we’re going beyond our comfort zone, we’re getting better but we may make mistakes or fail. That’s all good but again, it can bring about fear.

For some people, fear of failure/mistakes is sometimes too much to take a chance or to make a change. For others, going outside the comfortable zone they have now is too much. For others, it might even be the fear of success, fear of one’s own greatness, also sometimes referred to as the Jonah Complex.

If we have a vision for our lives, if we think from the end with the end in mind, if we have goals of some kind, we can focus on the end results and work towards these things – we can more easily progress and improve along the way if we keep reflecting upon this vision.

If we simply wander around without an end result in mind, we may have more difficulty focusing on making consistent progress, on improving where and how that we might benefit most.

My psychology teacher, Mr. Henderson, often said, “Pay now and play later or play now and pay later.” This is true with progress. Small or large actions today can change our tomorrows.

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Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.

So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from….

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Here is a great video and audio that I think we may all need to reflect upon from time to time……from Joe Polish

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What’s more important…The criticism of someone whom you respect and know, or the opinion of someone you don’t know? Of course, you should put more weight on the opinions of those you know, but most of us let the opinions of the “haters” bother us…

This quote by Johannes Kepler says it all…

“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”

This episode is part 2 of the awesome interview that Joe and Dean did with Sean Stephenson. This time, he shares a really interesting perspective on how your marketing may provoke “haters” and what you should do about it…